LESSONS I HAVE LEARNED FROM STARTING A BUSINESS

Five Lessons I Learned from Starting a Business

Every entrepreneur is on her journey to managing a business, and each will acquire her own insights over time. But take it from me, an entrepreneur who has launched several prosperous businesses over the past two decades: Sometimes it’s beneficial to learn from others’ experiences! So, I offer five deceptively simple lessons I’ve learned as a business owner.

Lessons Learned from Running a Business
It’s Okay to Pivot When you initiate a business, there’s often this drive to establish the business, make it a triumph, and then…what? Most entrepreneurs continue operating their businesses for years and overlook the fact that they’re exhausted and uninterested. There’s no lifelong contract you sign when you start a business. You make the decisions, and if you’re being called to do something entirely different, give yourself permission to do so. That may mean closing or selling the business you’ve worked hard to build. This is not failure. This is success. You have created a flourishing business and now you’re deciding to take on a completely new endeavor. That takes courage!
Even if you remain in the same business, set your ego aside and constantly look for ways to enhance the business, even if that means altering services or products to better align with your audience.

It’s Okay to Work Less Americans have become workaholics, and rather than making us better at work, it’s hindering us, causing health problems and stress. Again, there seems to be some unspoken rule that says the more you work, the more virtuous you are (or appear to be).
If you remove cultural expectations and instead focus on working just as much as you need to keep your business moving along and steer it in the direction of your business goals, you might find it’s a whole lot less than 40 hours a week. Creating systems and processes can cut down on the time you spend on menial tasks, like scheduling social media posts rather than creating them when you’re ready to publish them. And delegating tasks to others (which is why you hired employees, right?) can free you up to focus on the bigger-picture activities you need to perform as the business owner.

It’s Okay to Fire Clients New entrepreneurs may be horrified at the idea of firing a client, but those who have been running their companies for a while will instantly be able to think of a troublesome client who they would love to fire. Maybe it’s the one who sends 20 emails a day and calls you on the weekend. Or the one who constantly changes his mind about what he wants for a project. Or the one who pays little but demands much. You don’t have to put up with bad clients. Yes, you will lose revenue if you let one go, but think of the time you’ll free up. With that time, you can look for new, better clients to replace that revenue. You can also devote more time to the clients you have, which will make them so happy, they’ll refer others to you!
Just be careful in how you “fire” a client. If emotions get in the way, you risk burning bridges. On the other hand, if you can tactfully tell a client that you’re no longer able to provide services for them, you may leave the relationship intact. If you don’t want to be honest about how crazy it makes you to receive dozens of texts about a project from the client, just tell them your workload doesn’t allow you to fully dedicate yourself to their project.

Who You Are Now Isn’t Who You Will Be Even after 20 years of entrepreneurship, I’m still evolving and learning. You will, too. As your industry changes, as you’re influenced by books, blogs, documentaries, conferences, and peers, you will get new ideas about how to run your business and the products or services you offer.
In business, there is no stagnation. Or there shouldn’t be. Your role as an entrepreneur is to constantly improve yourself so you can help your business grow. Your ego (there that word is again) may tell you that you’re experienced and that you don’t need to learn anything, but don’t listen to it. There’s always room to grow and learn.

Listen to Others (But Know When to Shut Your Ears) One great way to learn and help your business grow is to turn to others for advice. That might be a business partner, employee, friend, spouse, or mentor. Be open to the advice coming from anywhere, and humble yourself enough to really hear it rather than deciding that you always know best what your business needs.
On the other hand, realize that while people have the best intentions, they don’t always know what your business needs! It’s up to you to discern when you’ve got things covered and when you’re in too deep and need to see your business from an outside perspective. Sometimes you need a combination of advice from others and your own intuition. If you pay attention, your business is teaching you things every day. But sometimes it requires you to pull your head out of the muck to hear it, and set aside self-pride to heed it.